Oracle Bones (2006) by Peter Hessler & the Tears of Regret for the Poet Chen Mengjia

Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China (2006) by Peter Hessler begins with Hessler’s life on May 8, 1999 and ends in June 2002 but also spans centuries in historical China, where the story ranges and revolves around ancient oracle bones and the archeologist Chen Mengjia and his wife, Lucy Chao, who translated Whitman’s Leaves of Grass into Chinese Mandarin.

Oracle Bones is by far a better book than Hessler’s first called River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. Hessler seems to have matured in the five years between the two publications, and Oracle Bones takes on a deeper power that concerns itself more with the Chinese and their history than Hessler’s imperialist observations and interactions with them, as he was accustomed to do in River Town.

In Oracle Bones, a more restrained and curious Hessler steps out of the way to reveal the souls of the people who he speaks with in his quest to uncover the truth behind what happened to Chen Mengjia, a poet and lover of oracle bones.

Hessler reminds readers that the Chinese do not speak in such a way common to most Americans and that gathering the truth to certain situations which happened during the Cultural Revolution may be more difficult than one might expect, simply for cultural reasons and more complexly for the pain that is caused by the act of remembering:

“In China, people often speak circuitously when confronted with an uncomfortable memory. The narrative emerges loosely, like string falling slack onto the floor; the listener has to imagine how everything connects. Sometimes the most important details are omitted entirely. But when the Chinese do decide to speak openly, their directness can be overpowering. Often, there is no visible emotion: just the simple straight words” (p 433).

Chen Mengjia

And when Hessler, doing some real reporting for a change, is able to get people beyond their defensiveness or avoidance tactics is when the story opens up more clearly about Chen Mengjia and the past that led the great scholar to commit suicide in 1966.

Two oracle bones from the Shang Dynasty in China (c. 1800 – 1200 BCE)

The climax of the book comes when Hessler tracks down Professor Li Xueqin, then almost seventy, in his office at Tsinghua University to ask him about the heavy criticism the professor published in 1957 to publicly shame Chen Mengjia decades ago during the Cultural Revolution and how this article could have been one factor of many leading to Mengjia’s suicide. What comes next is a true representation of the human condition in all its splendor and in all its agony:

“I didn’t want to do it,” tells Professor Li Xueqin, former assistant to Chen Mengjia and the director of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project initiated in 1995, “There was no problem with the scholarly points that I made in the other parts of the essay. But the personal criticism was something that I didn’t want to write. After that essay was published, I rarely saw Chen Mengjia. But occasionally in the early 1960s, I encountered him at the Institute of Archaeology, and whenever that happened, I didn’t feel comfortable speaking to him. I just couldn’t hold a conversation, because my heart felt bad. I always regretted that article…

“I think that people understood. Much later, after he was dead, I still had contact with his friends, and occasionally I saw his wife. None of them ever attacked me. I think they understood what had happened, but I still felt bad. Mei banfa. There was nothing I could do about that…

“Throughout the interview, I have been writing, and now Professor Li looks at my notebook.

“I would prefer that you not write about this in the New Yorker,” Professor Li says, now a very old man, “It’s a personal problem. I’d rather you just wrote about the chronology project and those things that we talked about earlier.

“I say that I won’t write about it unless I can explain everything fully.

“It’s hard to understand, apart from the fact that it was a horrible period,” Professor Li explains to Hessler. “By the time the Cultural Revolution happened, if people criticized you, then you truly believed that you were wrong. I was also criticized at that time, and I believed the things that people said. Everybody was like that; it was a type of social psychology. There were so many enemies—everybody was an enemy, it seemed” (p 391).

And this has been one aspect of the human condition that has always fascinated me as a writer; it is often difficult for me to grasp the fact for how little people sell their morals down the river, for how little people give away their souls to save their skins, for how little people trade their lives to easily destroy another.

Hessler leaves the interview with Professor Li Xueqin and reflects on the professor’s mood and comments, which came unexpectedly:

“On my way to Tsinghua, I had told myself that it was necessary to take the professor by surprise, because otherwise this detail of the past might disappear. But it would have felt better if the man had become defensive or angry; it was much worse to see the regret. The author of that criticism had been twenty-four years old” (p 392).

And the story of Chen Mengjia reaches a level of sorrow also quite unexpected for the reader as Chen MengXiong, Mengjia’s little brother, speaks of the disgrace which led to Mengjia’s suicide,

“That night was the first time Mengjia tried to kill himself. He took sleeping pills, but he didn’t die. They took him to the hospital. The next day I heard the news, and I went to his home. There were Big Character posters on the door, criticizing Mengjia. I entered and realized that the courtyard was already occupied by Red Guards. They were using it as a kind of neighborhood base. And I was captured immediately. ‘Good,’ they said. ‘Zi tou luowang. You’ve cast yourself into the net.’

“Mengjia’s wife was there, too, and they seated her and me on chairs in the courtyard. The first thing they did was shave off half our hair. At that time, it was called the Yin-Yang Head, and it was a common punishment. After that, they took off their leather belts and started beating us” (p 434).

The fate of Chen Mengjia and the oracle bones, albeit one of the more fascinating ones, is but one story in a myriad of others set throughout as overlapping narratives.

Hessler also dives into juxtaposing issues that language creates, especially with so many cultures using so many languages. What is reality, then, if language creates reality? A very good question when set against an historical event like the Cultural Revolution in China.

“It’s this huge amount of data,” explains Imre Galambos, a foreign linguist in Beijing, “There’s this philosopher who had a lot of influence on me, Ernst Cassirer. He wrote this book called Language and Myth.

“Basically, his idea is that language itself creates reality. For example, in order to have words like nouns, you have to have concepts. When you form concepts, that’s when you’re creating stuff—it’s a creative process. You pick out certain things from the environment, and you give them labels, and you create this reality around you. When you’re a kid, you’re not just learning how to speak; you’re learning how to perceive a reality. It’s almost like a computer language, an internal code that makes you able to think” (p 444).

By the end of Hessler’s quest through time and China, he has captured a sense of this “internal code” which helps to create an unbiased honesty as he reflects on the similarities between China and the United States:

“My journey between China and the United States came to feel the same way—a blurring of old boundaries and distinctions. When I first lived in China, I was mostly struck by the differences, but over time the similarities became more obvious. Americans and Chinese shared a number of characteristics: they were pragmatic and informal, and they had an easy sense of humor.

“In both nations, people tended to be optimistic, sometimes to a fault. They worked hard—business success came naturally, and so did materialism. They were deeply patriotic, but it was a patriotism based on faith rather than experience: relatively few people had spent much time abroad, but they still loved their country deeply. When they did leave, they tended to be bad travelers—quick to complain, slow to adjust. Their first question about a foreign country was usually: What do you think of us? Both China and the United States were geographically isolated, and their cultures were so powerful that it was hard for people to imagine other perspectives” (p 439-440).

As I wrote in the beginning, Hessler has matured since 2001 that came with the publication of River Townand 9/11. Hessler, as both reporter and writer, has learned control and a sense of balance of his material, much like a sculptor shaping his malleable material more for the material’s gain than the artist’s own in order to show the fullness of art and reality.

“That was the nature of writing,” explains Hessler, “and you had to find ways to balance it. And I always remembered that there was at least one faith that connected the teacher and the writer. Whenever a person studied another language, and went to another place—or even imagined it—there was a chance that he would gain a new perspective. He might misinterpret information, and the material might confuse him; I had seen that happen time and time again. But if there were patience and determination and honesty, then a glimpse outside might help somebody become more comfortable with his place in the world” (p 426).

And it is a place in the world which so many people strive to achieve each and every day, their personal struggle for identity, and yet it can be described as a singular reality—a tiny dot in the vastness of uncountable dots.

But with patience, determination and honesty there is no question in my mind that the world will become a better place than it was yesterday—after all, our sun is but one tiny dot in the heavens, but without it we would all perish.

“The historical events were unimaginable,” Hessler writes of China and its history, “as if they had come from another world, but the people’s reactions were perfectly understandable. Recovery, in all its varied forms, is simply a human instinct” (p 456).

And Hessler closes with a reflection on the human condition and the three Fates, as if these three sisters (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan—who is to say for sure?) had been guiding him through his quest to understand the impossible events which took place so many decades ago in China.

Wu Ningkun

Hessler is outside a retirement home in Reston, Virginia where he had just met Wu Ningkun, the author of A Single Tear, and he is waiting for a bus when he meets the three old women:

“‘I asked the women what they had thought of the memoir.

“‘I liked it,’ said one.

“‘He had a hard life,’ said the Midwest.

“‘Especially when they threw him into a labor camp,’ said New York.

“The bus pulled up; the door hissed open. Suddenly the image was clear: three elderly sisters, spinning, weaving, snipping. I paused, unsure how to end the conversation.

“‘You better get on that bus,’ said New York, and I did” (p 457).

Hessler’s Oracle Bones is far better than his previous book River Townand this is why I invite you to explore more about China and the Cultural Revolution and the oracle bones by reading Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China.

Who knows? You might one day find yourself stepping onto a bus headed into the future. Stranger things have happened, haven’t they?

CG FEWSTON was born in Texas in 1979 and now lives in Hong Kong. He is the author of several short stories and novels. His works include A Father’s Son, The New America: A Collection, Vanity of Vanities, A Time to Love in Tehran, and (forthcoming) Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being, and (also forthcoming) Little Hometown, America: A Look Back.

His novel, A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN, won GOLD for Literary Classics’ 2015 best book in the category under “Special Interest” for “Gender Specific – Female Audience” and has been called a “cerebral, fast-paced thriller” by Kirkus Reviews, where it gained over 10,000 shares.

A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN was also nominated for (& lost) the following 2016 book contests: the PEN/Faulkner Award, the John Gardner Fiction Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, the Young Lions Fiction Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Hammett Prize, and the Pushcart Prize. Heartbreaking, lyrical and eloquent, this remarkable novel confirms CG FEWSTON’s place among America’s finest novelists.

CG FEWSTON has travelled the world visiting Mexico, the island of Guam, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Taipei & Beitou in Taiwan, Bali in Indonesia, and in China: Guilin, Shenzhen, Sanya on Hainan Island, Zhuhai and Beijing. He has spent several years living in South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. He also enjoys studying and learning French, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Among many others, CG FEWSTON’S stories, photographs and essays have appeared in The Penmen Review (“The Old Man in Beijing: A Christmas Carol” & “Y2K Meditations”), Adelaide Literary Magazine – from New York and Portugal (“A Day in the Life of a Guitarist”), Sediments Literary–Arts Journal, Bohemia, Ginosko Literary Journal, GNU Journal (“Hills Like Giant Elephants”), Polychrome Ink Literary Magazine, Contemporary Literary Review India (“The Girl on the River Kwai”), Tendril Literary Magazine, Prachya Review (“The One Who Had It All”), Driftwood Press, The Missing Slate Literary Magazine (“Darwin Mother”), Gravel Literary Journal, Foliate Oak Magazine, The Writer’s Drawer, Moonlit Road, Nature Writing, and Travelmag: The Independent Spirit; and for several years he was a contributor to Vietnam’s national premier English newspaper Tuoi Tre, “The Youth Newspaper.”

A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN won GOLD for Literary Classics’ 2015 best book in the category under ”Special Interest” for “Gender Specific – Female Audience”… Finalist in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction… Finalist in the 2015 Mystery & Mayhem Novel Writing Contest…

FEWSTON “delivers an atmospheric and evocative thriller in which an American government secret agent must navigate fluid allegiances and murky principles in 1970s Tehran… A cerebral, fast-paced thriller.”

“A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN is a thrilling adventure which takes place in pre-revolutionary Tehran. Author CG FEWSTON provides a unique glimpse into this important historical city and its rich culture during a pivotal time in its storied past. This book is so much more than a love story. Skillfully paired with a suspenseful tale of espionage, A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN is a riveting study of humanity. Replete with turns & twists and a powerful finish, FEWSTON has intimately woven a tale which creates vivid pictures of the people and places in this extraordinary novel.”

“Thus one skilled at giving rise to the extraordinary is as boundless as Heaven and Earth, as inexhaustible as the Yellow River and the ocean. Ending and beginning again, like the sun and moon. Dying and then being born, like the four seasons.”

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About the Author

CG FEWSTON was born in Texas in 1979 and now lives in Hong Kong. He is the author of several short stories and novels. His works include A Father’s Son, The New America: A Collection, Vanity of Vanities, A Time to Love in Tehran, and (forthcoming) Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being, and (also forthcoming) Little Hometown, America: A Look Back.

CG FEWSTON is a member of Club Med, AWP, Americans for the Arts, and a professional member & advocate of the PEN American Center. CG FEWSTON has emerged as a leader in literature with a seasoned voice of reason, fairness and truth while becoming your American novelist for the 21st century.

When asked in an interview why he writes and for whom, he answered: “I write for my children so that one day they will have something to read from their father.”

His fourth novel, A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN, won GOLD for Literary Classics’ 2015 best book in the category under “Special Interest” for “Gender Specific – Female Audience” and has been called a “cerebral, fast-paced thriller” by Kirkus Reviews, where it gained over 10,000 shares.

A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN was also nominated for (& lost) the following 2016 book contests: the PEN/Faulkner Award, the John Gardner Fiction Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, the Young Lions Fiction Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Hammett Prize, and the Pushcart Prize. Heartbreaking, lyrical and eloquent, this remarkable novel confirms CG FEWSTON’s place among America’s finest novelists.

CG FEWSTON has travelled the world visiting Mexico, the island of Guam, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Taipei & Beitou in Taiwan, Bali in Indonesia, and in China: Guilin, Shenzhen, Sanya on Hainan Island, Zhuhai and Beijing. He has spent several years living in South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. He also enjoys studying and learning French, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

While in Vietnam, CG FEWSTON was also founder and owner of Bumblebees Childcare and Kindergarten, bringing quality and premium education to thousands of children in need.

Among many others, CG FEWSTON has contributed several short stories, photographs and essays to The Penmen Review (“The Old Man in Beijing: A Christmas Carol” & “Y2K Meditations”), Adelaide Literary Magazine – from New York and Portugal (“A Day in the Life of a Guitarist”), Sediments Literary–Arts Journal, Bohemia, Ginosko Literary Journal, GNU Journal (“Hills Like Giant Elephants”), Polychrome Ink Literary Magazine, Contemporary Literary Review India (“The Girl on the River Kwai”), Tendril Literary Magazine, Foliate Oak Magazine, Prachya Review (“The One Who Had It All”), Driftwood Press (“The Boy of Eight Summers”), The Missing Slate Art & Literary Journal (Story of the Week, “Darwin Mother”), Gravel Literary Journal, Edify Fiction, Shandy Pockets, Anak Sastra, Crab Fat Literary Magazine, Dirty Chai, Nature Writing, The Writer’sDrawer, Moonlit Road, Travelmag: The Independent Spirit, and Go Nomad. For a number of years, he was also a contributor to Viet Nam’s national premier English newspaper, Tuoi Tre: “The Youth Newspaper.” In 2009, he had a Highly Commended short story “Lazarus, Come Forth!” in the Tom Howard Short Story, Essay, and Prose Contest.

Born and raised in Texas, CG FEWSTON graduated from Brownwood High School and, later, from Howard Payne University with a B.A. in English & American Literature. After receiving his first Master’s degree in Education for Higher Education Leadership and Administration (honors) from JIU in Colorado, he received his M.A. in Literature (honors) from Stony Brook University in New York where his thesis “An Unnatural Demise” was nominated for the Deborah Hecht Award. While a Seawolf, CG FEWSTON was a member of University Scholars and also the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). He received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University, where he is proud to be a fellow Penmen.

While at Southern New Hampshire University, CG FEWSTON had the honor and privilege to work with wonderful and talented novelists, such as Richard Adams Carey (author of In the Evil Day, October 2015; and, The Philosopher Fish, 2006) and Jessica Anthony (author of Chopsticks, 2012; and, The Convalescent, 2010) as well as New York Times Best-Selling novelists Matt Bondurant (author of The Night Swimmer, 2012; and, The Wettest County in the World, 2009, made famous in the movie Lawless, 2012) and Wiley Cash (author of A Land More Kind Than Home, 2013; and, This Dark Road to Mercy, 2014). While at SNHU, CG FEWSTON also participated in writing workshops ran by Mark Sundeen, Ann Garvin, Jo Knowles, Diane Les Becquets, and Benjamin Nugent (all brave, enthusiastic and talented writers).

CG FEWSTON’s published works include:

A FATHER’S SON (2005); one collection of short fiction, THE NEW AMERICA (2007) – named a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence 2008 Awards; VANITY OF VANITIES (2011); and, A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN (2015) was a Finalist in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction, a Finalist in the 2015 Mystery & Mayhem Novel Writing Contest, and won GOLD for Literary Classics’ 2015 Best Book in the category under “Special Interest” for “Gender Specific – Female Audience”. Heartbreaking, lyrical and eloquent, this remarkable novel confirms CG FEWSTON’s place among America’s finest novelists.

Forthcoming: Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being, and (also forthcoming) Little Hometown, America: A Look Back.

“CG FEWSTON” is a pseudonym and phonetic spelling of “CG FUSTON.” “CG” is a familial cognomen handed down multiple generations. “FUST-ON” is a surname derived from the original family name of “FUST.”

The Rhineland, a German province, is the ancestral home of the FUST family. The name was derived from the Old German word “fust” meaning “fist” and was held by a person strong in nature and character as well as combative and warlike.

After the 17th century, to escape religious persecution, many Rhinelanders settled across North America, especially in Texas—which is where the author CG FEWSTON is from.

Historically, the FUSTs would emerge in the Rhine region and in Bavaria as a noble family involved in economic, social and political affairs. One of the most famous FUSTs, according to Encyclopædia Britannica, was Johann Fust (c. 1400 – 1466), who was an early German printer and the financial backer for Johannes Gutenberg, who would become the inventor of the printing press and printing in Europe. Until 1506 the name was written as “FUST” when Peter Schöffer called his grandfather “FAUST,” which is said to have inspired the story of Doctor Faustus.